Sunday, April 30, 2017

Христос Воскрес! Воистину Воскрес!

04/17/2017

This week was such a blast!
We had a ton of service that we gave. So much that we had to put a limit ont his next week for ourselves of how much service we are going to do. We helped guite a few people clean up and prepare thier yards/gardens for this year and had lots of digging and burning involed.
We also had a great exchange with the Zone Leaders down here in Odessa. I got to be with Elder Vanderhooft.We did a book table centered around families and we went to go set it up in a little square with a fountain where families and lots of kids are known to be often. However when got there with all of our supplies, the look of things was that it was just going to tank. But we had faith and confidence that things were going to work out and they did! One of our Sister started drawing the Plan of Salvation on the ground with chalk and then imidiatly a little girl came flying in on rollerskates and join in the chalk drawing. And then freom there things just exploded. we had tons of people flock around and start talking. I decided to grab some pamphlets and contact with them on the sidewalks around the square and actually gave away quite a few! I even got to talk with a few as well.One of which was more than a little drunk and talked for a long time and told me that he wanted to see me on the beaches looking for a good looking Ukrainian girl. I just laughed.
So you might of heard that Easter was this past Sunday. They are often on diferent days in the U.S. and in Eastern Erupoe. But they were the same day this year. This particular Easter was very special to me. WE had finally gotten our Church Easter inititive cards not to long before and hadn't had any time at all to hand them out (things take for every to get to those exiled to Odessa). But we decided to pass out as many as we could on Sunday, despite all the other things we were doing. Some traditions here in Ukraine for Easter is that you paint or make (you don't always have to paint them) Easter eggs and take them to get blessed by the Provoslovny Priests. The first thing I saw Sunday morning was huge line of people across the street to get their baskets of egs blessed. Another thing is there is a special salutaion on Easter Sunday. You go up to some one and say "Христос Воскрес!" (Christ is risen!). And in reply they say "Воистину Воскрес!" (Verily He is risen). Thye peoploe here in Eastern Europe are not a very open people. You will about 80-90% of the time get rejected or ignored. But on Easter Suunday it is not that way at all. If you sayChrist is risen, you will always get a reply. And if you are handing out somwthing like a pass along card, they will always take it. it was really cool to see these people completly change on the day we remember and celebrate Christ and his victory over death.
In addition we had some wonderful talks given in Church by some of our wonderful members. We had a visitor come who I found out was a Latvian who went on a mission to the Dnipopetrovsk mission and is now living in Iceland. It was really interesting to talk with him. And I now knwo what a Latvian accent sounds like.
Also we had a man come by him self who is the friend of a less-active member we are working with to all three hours of church. I think he felt a little bit out of place and didn't understand everything that wasw going on buyt was very interested and tried his best to participate.
We have lots of awesome things going on here in Suvorovsky and in this area of the world. I can feel and see the results of the many prayers on my behalf and the behalf of those around me. Prayer is a power tool if we will but use it.
Elder Merrell is doing great. I asked him if he wanted to say anything but he just said "I don't know." so I don't know from Elder Merrell!
Also I decided that Russian was too easy and have now taken up Hebrew.
Just kidding. Russian is hard.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

I found the cool egg sleeve things at a market and remembered them from Russia.


The little cake thing is called a Пасха. it means passover which is also what they call the holiday.

The line right when I woke up. It was a lot longer by the time we left. 


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